The Remains
by kalster09
Summary: It seems that Skulduggery is always there for Valkyrie, protecting her with words and actions. Valkyrie has picked up his bones a few times (literally) though, and this isn't the first time, after Skulduggery is feeling rather emotional. Staged after Death Bringer, don't read if you don't like spoilers.


**A/N: This is sort of a one-shot, but as I say in my goodbye, I might make it into an actual story. This is my second attempt at some fics about Skulduggery Pleasant, and it is ten times better than my last try. xD**

**Sorry for any future mistakes, I am no wizard! {Skulduggery: Nor are you perfect like me! -Valkyrie slaps him-}  
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**Disclaimer: I do not own Skulduggery Pleasant and it's characters, Derek Landy does, I just morph them around to do my bidding! :D  
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It was a nice cool evening, the crickets and frogs were taking the place of the bird's songs. Somewhere in Haggard a dark haired girl grimaced at a frightful bruise on her arm. She was lucky to be alive, as vampires were not very cuddly. Caelan was no exception, despite his charming looks. The girl imagined him to be less handsome now, down in the darkness of the lake.

The girl, Valkyrie Cain, though to her parents Stephanie Edgely, took a chunk of odd smelling yellow rock. She deposited into the small pool of water in the sink, the yellowish color inking its way across the rippled surface. She glanced into the mirror her dark eyes hollow, her cheeks pale and sunken in. The past few days were not the best ones of her life. She faintly touched a small bruise on her chin, remembering the blow from the vampire. With a grim twist of her lips that could be a frown, she also recalled the wind being knocked out of her when he had thrust his fist practically into her stomach.

But it was nothing. Valkyrie had had worse. Much worse. Worse than her own torture. She had seen Skulduggery, her skeleton partner, disappear into another world, and _die. _Fletcher's look of utter hurt and horror was still fresh in her mind too, and she dwelled a bit on his words. Was she selfish, only wanting for herself? She never thought of herself as that. The girl cared for Fletcher, but he just…wasn't the right one. She cared for Skulduggery, for Ghastly, for- Valkyrie choked a little. Tanith too. Or she had. Now with the remnant swirling inside of her, Valkyrie wasn't sure. After all, the chance that they'd get Tanith back was little…to none.

Valkyrie plunged her arm into the sink, her T-shirt's sleeves too short to matter. Her reflection was exactly where it should be, in her mirror, waiting for when it was supposed to be needed. It had been acting funny lately, ever since Skulduggery had 'killed' it. _Skulduggery. _It had only been two days, but Valkyrie missed him. Scorn had told Skulduggery China's dark secret that China had taken his own wife to Serpine, and even had stayed to watch her death. It twisted Valkyrie's heart to think about how Skulduggery was taking it. He had just walked out, and she had expected to find him in boiling rage, but as far as she knew, China was alive.

The water was gurgling down the sink as the bruise faded. She washed the little bit of bruise on her chin, and then dabbed it dry with the fluffy brown towel awaiting her, hanging at the side of the sink. The sink was making a few last choking noises as she heard a knock on the door.

"Steph? Are you okay? You've been in there a while." Valkyrie opened the door, seeing the concerned expression of her mother standing outside. "Uh, yeah. A little disagreement in my stomach, that's all." Valkyrie lied, with a small stab of guilt. How easy it was, for those words to smoothly slide out. Her mother bought it, never thinking otherwise. "Well, alright then. Let me know if you need anything, sweetie." Melissa kissed her daughter's forehead, disappearing as the sounds of Alice's wails erupted in the odd silence of the house.

Valkyrie walked down the hall ways, turning into her room, feeling like a robot. Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, blink, blink, don't forget to breathe…She shut the door softly behind her, letting a little sigh escape her. She thought again of Skulduggery, with worry. She had been waiting for the detective to come see her, to arrive at her window sill like usual, but clearly that wasn't happening. She made a firm mental note to visit him tomorrow morning. Three days was good enough, for Valkyrie anyways. She was never very patient.

Trading her jeans for a pair of comfy shorts, Valkyrie slipped into the comfort of her bed. She felt exhausted, Darquesse was tracing around the edges of her mind, from having so much freedom not too long ago. Despite her unhappy thoughts, the teenager slipped into a disturbed sleep.

_Skulduggery stared at her, his eye sockets black and hollow as always. Something was off. He was sitting in the chair he usually meditated in, so perhaps that was what he was doing. Completely possible. Maybe he wasn't actually staring. Valkyrie nudged him lightly on the arm. "Skuldug-?"_

_ Valkyrie's wail interrupted her question. It was like the skeleton had combusted, just broke apart. There one moment, gone the next. His bones clattered to the ground, the shimmery substance that was his conscience fading into the mist. With a desperate, but useless, attempt to grab at it, Valkyrie just stumbled on to her knees. Suddenly, the body of Skulduggery vanished, and Lord Vile stared down at her, his black helmet tilted at an odd angle. _

"_Darquesse…Come out to playyyyy." His words turning into a hiss, nothing like the comforting velvet tone of Skulduggery. Lord Vile may be a part of Skulduggery, but he never could actually be him.  
_

_"No!" Valkyrie snarled at the tall black figure. She could feel Darquesse tugging at the weakening corners of her mind, cruelly whispering _yes, yes. _Valkyrie heard more hissing noises from the black figure, who now appeared to look more like...China? Indeed, the armor melted away, and instead of a skeleton, a beautifully delicate woman with startlingly pale blue eyes stared at her, her thin lips twisted in a smile. "I did it. I got Skulduggery's wife killed. And I'm proud of it." She hissed the last part, her lips turning a dark blood red, and suddenly it was just her lips, the rest of her had faded away into the hollow darkness. The lips shifted into a drop of blood, which splashed across Valkyrie's pale and afraid face.__  
_

Valkyrie awoke with a start, instinctively rubbing her face for the realistically feeling of the blood drop. But it had been nothing but a dream, truly a nightmare. She tried to shake out of it, but what she really wanted was a hug, some comforting words. Skulduggery immediately came to mind, but she thought it a bit inconsiderate to come to him for help, at this time.

The dark haired girl slowly rose from her bed, quickly changing into her black clothes, the fabric much of a mystery to Valkyrie. She needed somebody to talk to, even if it wasn't about her. She let her reflection out of the mirror, exchanging an odd stare with herself. The reflection wathced Valkyrie leave as she jumped right out of her window.

Instead of splatting, Valkyrie used her air manipulation skills to soften her touch down. She began at a brisk jog to Skulduggery's house, her first guess on where he'd be. She needed to learn to drive, especially now that Fletcher was no longer around to teleport her around.

Valkyrie arrived at Skulduggery's home, the house sitting proudly atop a small hill, watching over two other buildings. Her breath showed in small misty puffs, her legs felt tired, her throat felt dry, but her clothes kept her at a perfect temperature. Except her face and hands felt a little chill from the night air. Perhaps she would need gloves like her partner.

The teenager walked up to the door, ready to knock, but fully expecting Skulduggery not to open it. She hesitated, for once feeling a bit of anxiety over seeing him. What if he was angry, and blindly took it out on her? The girl shook her head, doubting that he would ever do that, unless he was Lord Vile. And even then it didn't really count.

Valkyrie knocked softly at first, and to her surprise, the door did indeed open. Skulduggery was standing there, tall as always, and he would have filled the doorway except for the fact that he was a skeleton, and bones did not gain much fat if any at all. He glanced down at her, his skull grinning, but otherwise devoid of emotion. _As always. _"Valkyrie." Skulduggery murmured, his voice lacking something, his tone having a twinge of surprise. "Do come in." He added, moving away, allowing his almost-seventeen-year-old partner to enter.

Valkyrie followed, emotion a bit like a zombie. She had expected Skulduggery to not answer the door, to either be meditating, or perhaps just sitting around and not wanting to see anybody. Not that she blamed him, not one bit. "You okay?" She asked carefully as the door shut behind her.

"No, Valkyrie I am not okay. I just recently found out that somebody I was beginning to trust helped kill my wife." Skulduggery snapped, suddenly irritable. Valkyrie cringed lightly, not expecting that either. The skeleton sighed, and for a moment Valkyrie wondered how, like she usually did. "I am sorry. I just haven't been myself." Skulduggery murmured, sitting upon the couch, putting his skull in his hands, as one might do to run their fingers through their hair. Valkyrie plopped down onto the cushion next to him, feeling a twist of pity and sympathy.

"You can talk to me. You're always there for me, and I you." Valkyrie said softly, awkwardly pulling him into a side hug. Skulduggery sort of just sat there for a moment, letting Valkyrie put her arms around his hard shoulders. Then he shifted, Valkyrie starting to pull away, but he hugged her back. "I know." He whispered. "I know."

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**Hmm, hmm? I believe this is one of my better ones ^.^**

**Please review, I do enjoy them. If I get more reviews, I might consider making this a story instead of a one-shot. Thanks for reading! :D**


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